This is the second release who graduated from our new release cycle. The general release cycle is every two months (1 month for pre-release testing and 1 month for the regular release). Big thanks to all those who tested and provided feedback.

The major highlight of this release is the new look of the map. After several months of experiments and tweaking, I was able to understand Garmin’s cartography styling using typ files.

POI icon improvements

I changed most of the POI icons using a unified brand-neutral-two-tone scheme. Each icon is colored according to the POI category (blue for transport and auto related categories, orange for food and entertainment, etc.). Big thanks to Matt, Marat and the National Park Service for licensing their icon symbols in the public domain.

A different road style

Inspired by Cloudmade’s Fine Line style, I created a minimalistic road style called, well “Minimal”. Most road are thinner from Garmin’s default. At lower zoom levels, all you see is a simple road layout. By creating thin lines, roads are more visible especially on GPSr’s small screens.

Zooming at higher levels, POIs become more visible. For well mapped areas, icons are overcrowded, I used smaller icons (16 by 16 px) in order to pack in more in a small space. One of my favorite is the traffic signal icon on road intersections.

Building polygons and better land use colors
Building outlines are more visible.

As well as, landuse types.

Beginnings of an address database
We are slowly adding address information in Openstreetmap, you can now see them in your GPS. However, “address search” is not yet working on most GPSr.

When there is data, there is detail
While we cannot claim complete coverage for much of the roads in the country, in areas where we have data, there is great detail you can’t get from other proprietary Garmin maps. A few I can mention here are:

Local delicacies. Visit the popular “Banoks Barbecue” in Davao known for it’s great chicken barbecue.

Tricycle stations in Marikina.

Viewpoints and other attraction in Luneta Park. Can you spot the Philippine’s Largest Relief Map?

Not only for road navigation
Openstreetmap data is not solely for roads and cars. Many contributors add data you can use for other purposes. You can use it for:

Mapping tool
You can also use the map to identify data errors. In some areas we imported data taken from various out-of-copyright maps. These roads have been marked with a “FIXME” tag. For safety purposes, I disabled routing on these roads. You can visit and re-trace these roads using your GPS and submit corrections in Openstreetmap.

That’s it! Enjoy! As we prepare for the next batch of improvements, please continue updating the map and report bugs. Happy GPSing!

5 responses to “new osm-ph garmin map (release sept-2009)”

I tried it with my new 1390T Garmin and it did’nt load. The unit does see the map file when you hit info, but that’s about it. I wish it did work cuz I’m on my way to the Philippines. By the way, I did all the instructions using MapSource 6.15.7.